602 POST-OFFICE, UOADS, AND CONVEYANCE. 



intrusted. For this purpose he first considers the propriety of 

 leaving the maintenance and repairs of the public roads to the local 

 administration of a consolidated Board of Trustees in each county, 

 and for substituting a county-rate on all property, upon abolishing 

 the collection of tolls ; and recommends the issue of parliamentary 

 grants of money by commissioners, acting as a Board of Control, for 

 the general superintendence of all new roads, and that the existing 

 debts of the several trusts be funded as a national charge, or upon 

 the resources of each county. Secondly, he shews the practicabi- 

 lity of withdrawing the collection of the duties imposed on all car- 

 riages and horses used in travelling and let to hire, now collected at 

 the Stamp-Office, and placing the same under the management of his 

 majesty's Postmaster-General ; likewise, of reducing and simplify- 

 ing the impost of duties, by substituting a licence for the several 

 uses, that the appropriation may be made and applied to the main- 

 tenance and repairs of the roads under a special Board of Commis- 

 sioners. 



We shall not follow Mr. Fuge through the able reasoning by 

 which, under the first of these two heads, he points out the various 

 evils of road- trusts and their system of management. In order to con- 

 vey a general view of its magnitude, the following returns made to 

 parliament will suffice : 



In England and Wales the number of miles on turnpike roads in 

 1823 was 24.599. 



Income collected by tolls 1.282,715 



Expenditure 1,286,085 



Being an average of 52/. per mile ! 



Debts on mortgages and balances due to treasurers . . 6,605,543 



An example of a large and populous county, Devonshire : 

 In 182024 trusts 794 miles . . . 193,418 debts. 

 In 183024 trusts 870 miles . . . 336,280 debts. 



It may, therefore, be fairly inferred that the number of miles on 

 roads in 1831 was not less than 28,000 and the amounts of debts in 

 England and Wales at least nine millions sterling. 



This speaks trumpet-tongued of the deep impolicy of the existing 

 system. But how can it be otherwise whilst the management of the 

 trusts remains in the hands of a number of self-elected, irresponsible 

 individuals, without further control than the majority of interested 

 members, whose mutual object is the improvement of those lands 

 through which the lines pass, and which lands are their own? 

 " Every acting trustee," says Mr. Fuge, " is fully aware of the con- 

 flicting interests at all times exhibited, and the lavish expenditure 

 practised to suit the convenience of individuals, for which no check 

 exists." Indeed, this is acknowledged by the highest tribunal, the 

 system of management being particularly noticed in the Report of 

 the House of Commons upon Mr. M 'Adam's claim in 1823; for it 

 states, " Whatever plausible appearance the plan may assume of ap- 

 pointing a number of noblemen, gentlemen, farmers, and tradesmen, 

 as commissioners of roads, the practice has ever been found at variance 

 with the supposed efficiency of so large a number of irresponsible managers, 

 and the inevitable consequences of a continuance of this defective system 



